Doraemon Movie 42: Nobita to Sora no Utopia

Here is my review of this anime in 2023!

Story (10)
The story is about a Nobita that are curious about the Crescent Moon He saw during the day. That curiosity makes them have a time travel journey to search for Utopia (Crescent Moon island). Somehow they find out the Utopia but there is something wrong with that place. That's how their journey begins.

Art (10)
The art in this anime is excellence! I like the color, glow, and shadow they were using for this anime. They also use a lot of animation than the static image which makes it more enjoyable to watch. What I like much is ... how they can animate the planet morphing also the attack effects (Mostly the electric ones)

Sound (10)
All the sounds that they used were suitable and adjusted to the animation.

Character (10)
The main and supporter character is very memorable since they have their unique personality.

Enjoyment (10)
It's very enjoyable to watch this movie in 2023.

Overall (10)
It's recommended to those who love adventure, sci-fi, and comedy anime!

*Recommended to watch with your family!

My overall take: Could benefit from minor adjustments to the pacing and writing, but a solid, emotionally charged addition to the franchise.

In this movie, Nobita thinks life would be much better if he lived in a utopia, and asks Doraemon to help him find one. There are quite a few things I enjoyed about this film. The story is well crafted for most part, making effective use of foreshadowing. It's certainly one of the most emotionally driven Doraemon movies, with several heartfelt moments among the characters, especially between Nobita and Doraemon and between Doraemon and the "perfect" robot cat Sonya. Speaking of which, Doraemon being ... the main protagonist to forge a connection with one of the movie characters is a rare occurrence! Additionally, Sonya himself probably qualifies as one of the more memorable and developed movie-exclusive characters in the franchise.

If I were to criticize anything about this movie, one would be that it's very exposition heavy. I have to wonder whether some of the scenes dedicated to explaining background information and character backstories through dialogue could have been trimmed down just a bit, especially given that there were other elements of the story that could have used the extra runtime. For example, Shizuka, Gian, and Suneo don't get a whole lot of focus this time around.

I do appreciate though that the movie actually highlights one of Shizuka's flaws other than "she plays violin badly"—she can be stubborn, which is true... even if the way it is shown here makes her come across as studious more than anything. The scene where the protagonists come around to embracing their shortcomings is also a well done character moment.

That being said, there are ways in which the central theme of the story (essentially "it's okay not to be perfect") could have been handled with more nuance. After all, Gian and Suneo's misbehavior is regularly shown to cause real harm to others throughout the franchise. I know, there are limits to how deeply one can explore a moral conundrum in a children's film, but I don't believe this would have been too challenging to achieve. Perhaps more emphasis could have been placed on learning to control one's flaws and redirecting them into exacting positive change, contrasting with the villain's plan to forcibly erase all individuality. Glimmers of this are already present in the aforementioned scene, but I think it could have been made more explicit still, which isn't helped by the fact that the main villain only appears in person briefly and barely interacts with the heroes.

On the whole, however, these weaknesses didn't detract much from my viewing experience, and I'd consider this a worthwhile entry in the Doraemon film series.

My first impression.
The story and the position of the guest characters are new and challenging. However, I thought it was a waste because there was little explanation of the character's background.

Good points:
- Adventure stage
Doraemon movies often have adventures in places far removed from the world Doraemon and his friends live in. For example, space away from the earth, ancient times, in the mirror.
This movie is also a story in a paradise floating in the sky. However, in this movie, it is closely related to the sphere of daily life. Looking at the pamphlet, the scriptwriter said, "At first, I thought that the town where Nobita ... and others lived would be the stage for adventure, and I thought of a story that doesn't go anywhere.(After that, it became a story in the sky)." This movie is less adventurous than usual. It's not a big stage. This point was new and challenging to me.

- Relationship with the main guest character
Guest characters appear in every Doraemon movie. Usually, the story develops a friendship with Nobita, but this time, it is especially developed with Doraemon as well. I would like to evaluate this point as a new element.

Disappointing points:
- It is difficult to understand the background of other guest characters who are not the main characters.
The main character this time is "So-nya". "So-nya" background shows up a lot, I can see why he shows up. But other characters came out of nowhere. Because the story progressed with little explanation, I couldn't understand the emotions of the characters.

- Same for Nobita and others
Nobita and the others fight the bad guys. Breaking out of a difficult situation, but this is too sudden. It would have been nice to have more props and tricks.

- Difficult to see highlights
As a template for the Doraemon movie, the highlight is the fight against the bad guy and the farewell to the main guest character. Both seem weak in this movie. Since This movie not adventurous, Also it's hard to understand the final catharsis of returning to everyday life.

The message the film conveys:
This movie has a strong message. However, I thought it might be a little difficult for children to understand. (Good message. It's like a sci-fi short story by Fujiko F. Fujio.)

To summarize the final impression.
I don't think this movie was a movie that children would enjoy. It was a movie with an important message, but Doraemon's movie is a chance for Nobita and his friends to go on a big adventure once a year. This movie wasn't adventurous enough.

I felt unsatisfactory because the new original movie (not remakes movie) have been good for the past few years. Umm. Reviews in Japan have both good and bad reviews. It certainly has a message that fits the current situation in Japan, and I can understand why it is rated so well. This time I made a strict reviews. But, If you've been watching Doraemon movies for a long time, I want you to watch them as much as possible. Doraemon is always by your side.